I have a need to start working heavily in javascript/jquery/node under linux. The consensus seems to be that Google’s V8 is the javascript engine to use. To do this, I have to compile V8 from sources and to do that under RHEL is problematic. I’ve listed the steps I had to go through over at my wiki.

I recently took in the feature Taken, mainly because it received an insane number of positive votes on IMBD, and I really like Liam Neeson. But since Neeson isn’t exactly the poster child for an action hero, I was interested to see how the claims that the movie “flies by” could be held up. So I went. Glad I did.

On the whole this is a revenge movie – daughter gets taken, dad gets her back. More than this is what I’ll dub a “Dad Flick” – cousin to the “chick flick” and the “guy movie”. In Taken, the dad does what every father secretly fantasizes about what he’d want to be able to do should such a circumstance occur: have the resources and ability to undo the harm, and kill everyone who had a hand in it. Neeson does this – killing quickly, efficiently, without remorse or consideration, and with extreme prejudice. My only complaint is that he kills too quickly – cleanly and professionally – yet it’s up close and personal. He kills at close range – even when using guns, with his targets knowing who he is and why they’re dying. I only hope that when this makes it to DVD that there’s a director’s cut where the targets suffer.